Work machines, such as crawler tractors, typically include an engine oil cooler. During the performance of a work function by the work machine the engine oil cooler functions to decrease the temperature of a volume of relatively hot engine oil. In particular, the hot oil is cooled as a result of simultaneously advancing a cooling fluid and the hot oil through the engine oil cooler such that the engine oil cooler can function as a heat exchanger.
The engine oil cooler includes a conduit (or inner component) having a lumen and a plurality of cooling tubes positioned within the lumen. The cooling tubes carry the aforementioned cooling fluid through the conduit during the cooling process and prevent the cooling fluid from mixing with the oil. The engine oil cooler also includes a pair of casting members (or outer components). Each end of the conduit has a casting member secured thereto. Each casting member provides (i) a cooling fluid entrance opening which is in fluid communication with the cooling tubes and (ii) a hot oil entrance opening which is in fluid communication with the lumen of the conduit.
Heretofore, the castings members have been secured to the ends of the conduit by a process that utilizes a silver braze alloy which contains cadmium. A draw back to this technique is that the cadmium is an environmental toxin and thus causes disposal problems during the manufacturing of the engine oil cooler. Moreover, the aforementioned process requires a kolene cleaning of the casting member prior to securing to the conduit, and this process also utilizes substances that cause disposal problems.
Furthermore, some engine oil cooler designs utilize polymeric O-rings to seal the joint between the conduit and the casting member. A drawback to this design is that the polymeric O-rings tend to degrade relatively quickly, and thus decrease the time the engine oil cooler can be utilized.
What is needed therefore is an apparatus and method for creating a mechanical joint in an engine oil cooler which overcomes one or more of the above-mentioned drawbacks.